


The Name of Love

by category6



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Ace/Aro Hange Zoe, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Drummer Ymir, Everyone is Queer, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I love Armin so much, M/M, Multi, Nobody is Dead, Non-Binary Armin, Other, Polyamorous Character, Singer Eren Yeager, So many ships, They/Them Pronouns for Hange Zoë, This show is making me sad so I'm writing a happy fic in revenge, Trans Annie Leonhart, Trans Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), librarian armin, trans reiner
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-25 21:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30095349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/category6/pseuds/category6
Summary: Eren and his band "The Prey and the Hunters" need to get along so they can go on tour and grow as a band, but Jean is making it difficult for him. Luckily, he has Mikasa on his side and his other band mates are determined to succeed.Armin works at the Red Swan, a small LGBTQ library, as he pursues his library science degree. He's happy and content, but still distraught over recent troubles.When the library gets into a financial bind, Eren offers his assistance, leading to a mash up of musicians and library workers.The Band "The Prey and the Hunters" Members:Eren- lead vocalsMikasa- keyboard & back-up vocalsReiner and Jean- guitarAnnie- bassYmir- drumsand Erwin as their band managerThe Red Swan Library team:Levi- founder and owner (and custodian)Hange- bookkeeper and managerArmin- future librarian and desk workerBertholdt, Historia, and Marco- desk workers(Yes, all of these ships will happen in this story, lol, but Armin/Eren is main.)
Relationships: Armin Arlert & Eren Yeager, Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager, Bertolt Hoover/Annie Leonhart, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Marco Bott/Sasha Blouse/Jean Kirstein/Connie Springer, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun & Annie Leonhart, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover/Annie Leonhart, Sasha Blouse/Jean Kirstein/Connie Springer
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43





	1. The Ocean

The song started out with a soft beat of synth and guitar, leading into a piano melody that built until the whole band burst into sound. Reiner and Jean played competing guitar themes, Mikasa held the bass of the sound on the synth alongside Annie, playing the actual bass guitar. Ymir as usual jammed out on her drums like she was going to break them in two. They together held the melody and beat until Eren’s voice glided in smooth and steady. 

_Wouldn’t it be nice to take a walk on some pure white sand?  
Gaze at the horizon, without living in fear?  
Wouldn’t it be sweet to watch the sun curve down midst the waves?  
And taste the ocean spray and realize we’ve been living as slaves? _

“ _We--_ ” Eren tried to continue, but Jean cut him off. 

“Eren!” The instruments all faded out one by one, their owners looking annoyed at the two adversaries. 

Eren and Jean had already nearly come to blows multiple times during this rehearsal session and everyone was fed up with them by this point. Eren still couldn’t help himself when Jean interrupted him, however, to stalk right up to the other man in his face, “What. The. Hell. Jean.” 

“You came in early!” 

“I did not!” 

“Did too!” 

“Okay, that’s it. I’m done.” Ymir threw her sticks haphazardly towards her drums, threw up her arms and stomped away. 

“This is all your fault!” The boys claimed at the same time. 

Annie put her bass down more carefully than Ymir treated her drumsticks, “You know what… I think I’m gonna call it for the day, too. Got better things to do that watch you hominoids holler.” 

Eren frowned with Jean, looking to Reiner to explain what “hominoids” meant. When the lead guitarist just sighed and looked defeated in response, they both returned to glaring at each other. 

Mikasa left her keyboard to stand in between the glaring boys, “Eren. Jean. We’ve been through this before. Jean, if Eren does something wrong, we need to correct it after the song is done, not during. Eren, you need to try to not be so defensive with feedback.” 

Eren huffed and made to stomp out the way Ymir and Annie did, but instead promptly ran directly into something as large and solid as a wall. 

“Ah, whoa there, Mr. Jaeger. What’s going on here?” Erwin steadied a now disoriented Eren. “Where were Ymir and Annie going, did practice end already? I was hoping to talk with everyone today.” 

Mikasa quickly summarized the situation to their band manager. Eren felt a familiar gratefulness for having his sister in his life. 

“Ah. I see. Well, the usual then.” Erwin may have been disappointed, but he was always hard to read. “I wanted to talk about exactly this issue. Eren, Jean. You both HAVE to get along for this band to work. If we manage to get this contract, ‘The Prey and the Hunters’ will finally be able to tour with some bigger names, what we all have been working so hard for. But if you two can’t get along, I don’t know what will happen.” 

Eren didn’t have any response to that, but he did feel his cheeks heat up, reacting in both embarrassment for his behavior and anger that Jean would cause him to react in such a way. 

He really thought he and Jean had been getting along better, but maybe they were just ignoring each other more. Outside of band practice, Jean was spending more and more time with his partners, Connie and Sasha, which left him with less time to harass Eren. Eren himself had been busier working with Mikasa on song-writing. His sister wrote most of the songs for their band, but Eren was trying to hone his skills as well to build the diversity of their repertoire. 

Mikasa had experience with music before she joined their family. After she was adopted officially and moved in with the Jaegers, the pair had been inseparable over their mutual bond of music. They spent hours pouring over music of all genres and eras, as well as practicing their instruments and skills. Mikasa had picked up guitar, keyboard, and singing, while Eren mutually picked up guitar and singing, leaving the piano playing to her. 

Eren wanted to play music not only because of his own passion, but also to help his sister follow hers as well. Which is why he wanted to be able to work well with Jean, get along so their band could be coherent. But none of that mattered when the jerk was standing, breathing next to him, side-eyeing him like this was somehow all his fault. Eren just wanted to punch something, throw something, yell and scream. Instead, he simply stalked out the way Ymir and Annie left, leaving behind a seething Jean and a concerned Erwin. 

“Eren….” Mikasa tried one more time to intervene as he left. 

_____________________________

There was one place he could go where no one would find him, where no one would disturb him and he could just seethe in peace. The Red Swan Library. Not that Eren was one for books, no. This library held a plethora of media, including his all time favorite: records. Shelves of records, old and new, were waiting to be shuffled through, likely untouched since the last time he was there. There was a small record player in the back of the library he found a few weeks earlier. He also found out that if he played one of the records, no one came out of the shelves to yell at him, so it must be allowed. 

The Red Swan library wasn’t like a normal library, it was smaller with stacks of books as expected, as well as a full wall of ancient-looking books behind a locked glass case. There were also stacks of DVDs, CDs, and of course, the records. Eren selected his favorite record to listen to when he was feeling angry and carried it over to the player. He slumped down in the cushion-y chair nearby to embark on his angry listening session. 

As soon as his eyes were closed to better absorb the sound, a voice startled him. 

“Oh, is this band ‘Against Me’?” 

Eren jumped right out of his chair, further startling himself and the owner of the voice, finding that he had crashed right into a smaller person who up until that point, must have been holding the small stack of books that were now scattered along the floor. 

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Eren scrambled to right himself and assess the situation, trying to figure out how much damage he had done this time. 

At the same time, a smaller blond wearing an oversized light green sweater tried to placate him, “No, no it’s okay, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you! I’m so sorry.” 

Eren in that moment of course would have bent down with the other person to help clean up the books, but he found himself quite frozen to the spot, eyes glued on the blond. 

The blond was probably the most beautiful person he’s ever seen in his life, with silky blond hair tied up in a messy bun, clear and bright blue eyes, Eren could only stare as his heart clambered in his chest. 

Eren shook his head, gaining enough awareness to reach for the last book on the floor. “Hi,” he said as he offered the book to the other, “I mean, here. But also hi. Hi.” 

“Hi,” the other agreed, laughing and accepting the book into the pile. “So, ‘Against Me’?” 

“Yes, it’s my angry music.” 

“That makes sense,” the blond laughed more, eyes squinting and loose strands of hair shaking. 

Instead of following usual socially acceptable introduction techniques, the two of them stood there awkwardly, one nodding agreeably, and the other continuing to try to get his wits back until a voice interrupted the klutzy encounter, “Oh, hoho, Armin!! Yo! Did you meet a new friend? Hello, hello!” 

“Hange! Hi, um yes? This is….ummm?” The blond looked back at Eren as Eren turned his eyes toward the newcomer, a taller brunet in a red button down who wore glasses and a bright smile. 

“Hi, uh, I’m Eren! Um. I’m sorry, I hope I’m not, like, disturbing the library with the music…?” 

“No, not at all! I’m a big fan of this band, this is their album with ‘I was a Teenage Anarchist’, yes? A classic. Please, feel free to play all the music you want, that’s what it’s here for! I’m Hange, nice to meet ya, and I’ll be seeing y’all later, I’m already late for a meeting with a potential donor for the library, exciting stuff!” 

Eren wasn’t quite sure what to make of any of that, so he simply nodded, eyeing the blond for support. The blond luckily took over communication, “Yeah, Hange, see ya! Good luck.” 

“Thank you, thank you,” Hange took two large strides away before quickly turning back around to point a finger at Eren, “By the way, pronouns? I use they/them.” 

Eren starred cross eyed at the finger pointing at him, “Oh. Um. I’m a boy. I use the boy pronouns?” 

Hange smirked at him, but didn’t say anything other than, “Okay ‘boy pronouns’. I’ll catch ya later.” and continued out the door. 

Eren looked back to the blond, feeling a bit bewildered. “You, uh, do you have… pronouns?” 

Luckily he must not have said anything too offensive because the blond only laughed, “Yes, haha, I have pronouns. Uh, I use the boy pronouns, like you, I assume. Like you’d say ‘he and him’. But, uh…” He looked sheepish and didn’t hold Eren’s eye contact any longer, “Ah, nevermind.” 

The blond moved to place the stack of books on a nearby table and turned back to Eren, “Anyway, is there anything I can help you with? Or rather, if there is anything I can help you with, please let me know. I’m one of the desk workers, but I’m finishing my degree in library science so if you have anything special you’re looking for, I’d love to, I mean, I’d be happy to help.” 

“Oh, well thanks! I think I’m good? Right now. I’m not really a… book… person. But I love the records, they’re so eclectic? And so, random maybe?” 

“Oh, I mean, since they’re all LGBTQ artists, it’s just a wide range of genres and sounds.” Armin responded as if Eren should know this. 

“Oh, they’re… all….? No, yeah I didn’t notice that, they all like LGBT?” Eren flustered around his words, feeling his cheeks heat up for probably the thousandth time that day. 

Armin just stared at him for a second and burst into giggles, “You didn’t notice? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice all of the pride flags around the walls?” 

“Oh! I thought, you were just, really into like, inclusion and all that?” 

That apparently made Armin giggle louder, “Well, yeah, we’re an LGBTQ library? Everything is either written or about LGBTQ folks. For instance, ‘Against Me’.” 

“Oh.” Eren never felt more embarrassed, “Right.” 

It wasn’t that Eren had a problem hanging out at an LGBTQ library, it was just that… well. He had actively avoided figuring out his own sexuality for so long that being right in the midst of people who HAD figured it out (or so he assumed) was… overwhelming. He had never had any distinct reason to explore his personal attraction. But the way the smaller blond’s giggle was making his heart pound in all kinds of new ways made him question everything he knew about everything. 

“Here,” Armin gently tugged on Eren’s sleeve, “If you’ve just been hanging out back here with the records, you’ve probably missed some things around the library.” 

Armin proceeded to take Eren on a full tour around the library, orienting him to the stacks of books, new and old (the oldest of which were locked up in a case for protection), studying areas, and computers. He introduced Eren to Historia and Marco, who were working behind the front desk, as well as Bertholdt, who was busy sorting new material. Armin also explained that in addition to having the front desk workers, there was Hange who worked bookkeeping and other financial odds and ends, as well as Levi, who was the founder and owner of the library. Levi, he explained, wasn’t in today as he was meeting up with Hange and a potential library donor.

Apparently, the library ran on donations-only and needed those donations, particularly from people of wealthier means, to continue to operate. 

Eren tried his honest best to pay attention to all this, but after Armin and Historia helped him check out a few records and said their goodbyes, nice-to-meet-you’s, and hope-to-see-you-again-soon’s, the only thing he could really remember from that visit was Armin. Armin’s laugh, the way even a small chuckle would take up his whole body. Armin’s smile, how it brightened his light eyes even more. Armin’s hair, how it shimmered with any movement. Eren even caught a scent of Armin when he had leaned for his newly checked out records out of Armin’s hand. He smelled sweet and pure, like a gentle ocean breeze. Like sunlight hitting soft, warm sand. 

Eren fell asleep that night dreaming of the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all think! Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Here's the song the band plays in the beginning, "Barricades", by Hiroyuki Sawano  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAgPH1CWiAw
> 
> Here's a song from the album Eren was listening to, it's like my headcannon theme song for him lol:  
> "I was a Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7RUeMCZL3Q


	2. The Singer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The library staff learn some new information about their finances. Armin gets another chance to talk to the boy he's been dreaming about all week.

“I need everyone in the conference room for a meeting in five minutes,” Armin heard Levi’s voice over the book stacks and looked up from where he was shelving James Baldwin books. He made eye contact with Bertholdt at the front desk, who just shrugged in response. 

Hange told him earlier that day about a meeting with everyone, but they didn’t seem very happy about it, which worried him. As a usually very excitable and optimistic person (perhaps because they tended to ignore danger and consequences), Hange rarely emoted expressions of fear or worry, so their unhappiness greatly concerned Armin. 

Normally, Armin would have sat with that anxiety since the second they told him about this meeting. Today, however, he was distracted by thoughts and daydreams of a certain someone who had visited the library the week before. Eren the record-playing boy with deep eyes and a charming smile permeated his thoughts, making it difficult to concentrate on important tasks. Armin found several simple shelving mistakes that week, books that he himself had put away, but was somehow too distracted to notice the errors. 

Despite coming into his sexuality and gender, and subsequently coming out, Armin still had not allowed himself to dream as such about another person so strongly. Even still, he wouldn’t be able to describe why he couldn’t pull himself away from thoughts of this Eren guy. Maybe his flustered yet determined nature was appealing. Maybe his voice was pleasant. Maybe he was just stinkin’ attractive and that was all it took for Armin’s queer heart to beat askew. 

But Eren _was_ attractive, Armin thought. He had a beautiful, symmetrical face with straight white teeth that smiled like he was a movie star or something. The way he held himself oozed confidence, even when he was being awkward or unsure. The kind of person that makes heads turn when he enters a room. Armin wasn’t sure how he grabbed the attention of someone like that, even for a few minutes, but he now dreamed of having more-- more of that smile and hearing that voice. An almost ridiculous dream knowing how very little he knows about this Eren guy. But a future librarian can dream. 

The boss-man’s voice pierced his thoughts with a simple: “Meeting. Now.” Levi liked punctuality so Armin wasted no further daydream time and made his way to the conference room. 

By the time he got there, Bertholdt, Historia, and Marco were already sitting down in front of Hange and Levi, making him the last to arrive. 

“Alright,” Levi began, hands on his hips, eyes forward on his crew, “We have some bad news. The meeting we had last week with a potential donor didn’t go as well as we thought-- turns out they were meeting with us to apologize that they wouldn’t be able to donate much at all, mostly books rather than money. Hange and I have been looking through the finances all week with very little luck. Basically, it’s going to take a miracle to keep our library open for any longer than a few more months, tops.” 

“At this point, we’re just looking for any ideas you all might have for more fundraising,” Hange sounded more serious than Armin had ever heard them, “The children’s reading hours and movie nights have brought in more patrons, but not a lot of extra donating cash. We’re either going to need A LOT more patrons, bigger backers, or both.” 

Bertholdt raised his hand, causing Levi to raise an eyebrow, “Bertholdt. You don’t need to raise your hand, you can just speak.” 

“Oh, right. Well, my moms would always be happy to do another book signing event. Their second poetry book just came out with a new edition with a new cover, so maybe people will want more signatures? And, like, a reading of some of their poems, like last time?” 

Hange gave him a smile and a thumbs up, “Great idea, Berty!” The others smirked at the nickname, “Ask your moms if they’re on board, we could set that up anytime.” 

Historia leaned forward in her chair, “Um. I’ve been working on some of my designs for the library artwork? We could set some of that up, or even turn some of it into advertising to post around town or something.” 

Levi nodded, “Excellent, Historia. I’m sure your designs are of high quality as usual.” 

Historia blushed deep red and held her cheeks tight in her hands. 

“What if….” Armin wasn’t sure how to word his thoughts, “What if we did like a fundraiser-concert? Where a local artist plays music here, so everyone comes to listen to the music and then stay for a tour of the library?” 

Levi crossed his arms and squinted his eyes to think, “That’s not a bad plan, Armin. That will take some more planning. Does this mean you know a local music artist?” 

“Ah, no. Um. I was just thinking about… music.” _And a certain someone who patrons the library to listen to music. Maybe Eren knows the local music scene._ Thinking about talking to Eren again makes Armin’s heart flutter. 

“This is a great start, everyone!” Hange seemed more or less back to their usual self. “Levi and myself will think of some ideas as well, and please let us know how we can help to make your plans happen. Starting with Historia, if we could see some of your designs….?” 

___________________

Armin looked up as the door chimed, indicating an entering patron. Historia’s beautiful artwork on the desk in front of him was all but forgotten when he identified the arrival as none other than Eren himself. Clothed in a dark leather jacket over a loose shirt and notably tight pants (not that Armin was looking), Eren made his way over to the front desk and placed a pile of records down. 

“Hi, Eren!” Armin’s voice made an embarrassing squeak. He cleared his voice and stood up, “Welcome back, would you like to renew or return these?” Armin was distracted for a second by the various earrings Eren was sporting. 

“Hi there, Armin, right? I’m gonna return these. I’ll probably poke around at some more today.” 

“Sure thing. Please poke around all you want,” Armin felt his face heat up at how that sentence ended up, but refused to backtrack. “Uh. How did you like this music?” 

Eren responded enthusiastically, describing the various intricacies of the albums he’d checked out, mostly heavier rock and metal with a few soft pop and indie sounds mixed in. Armin listened intently to Eren’s descriptions as he checked the records in and placed them in a neat pile next to the computer to be put away later. He let the other’s voice wash over him when the topic got a bit beyond him, like something about chord progressions or key changes. It certainly sounded very interesting. He just hoped that he didn’t look like a doofus, though, only responding by simply nodding along to the conversation. 

“...Well, anyway.” Eren suddenly looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck. “I like the collection you all have here. It’s inspiring, I guess. To know that there are, you know, artists that are like...out... and stuff?” 

Armin could follow that part of the conversation, “Oh yeah! Of course. I don’t think there’s been any era of music-creating that doesn’t have challenges for LGBTQ artists. I love that we can collect all of their work here though and acknowledge their queerness. It annoys me when people brush over queer creator’s queerness, you know?” 

“Um. Yeah.” Eren fiddled with the zipper of his jacket and didn’t say anything else. 

“Yeah,” Armin wanted to continue the conversation but felt stuck, “I should let you poke around with more stuff, if you want. Let me know if you have any questions?” 

“For sure, thanks Armin.” He placed his fist on the desk, tapping it lightly, before stepping away towards the music media. 

Armin watched him turn like he was moving in slow motion. Every movement Eren made away from him made him desperate to say or do anything to make Eren stay right next to him, to continue any kind of conversation. That’s when he remembered though, he _did_ have something he wanted to talk to Eren about. 

“Wait!” Eren whipped around to the sound of Armin’s voice, fluffy hair flowing with him, “Uh. Do you happen to know any local queer music artists? We’re looking for someone to help us do a fundraiser-concert.” 

“Do… I…” The question brought Eren to a halt, wide surprised eyes were staring unblinking at Armin. “I… I…. Um. Yes. I do.” 

Eren turned to fully face Armin and seemed to come back into himself. His lips formed an almost mischievous smile, “Yes I do know a local q-queer music artist who would love to help you do a fundraiser.” 

_________________

Later that night Hange called all of the library staff as they sat in front of their computer, “Hey everyone, come check it out!!” 

Armin, Betholdt, Historia, and Marco gathered round as they were all headed out for the night. Levi poked his head around the corner to check out the commotion, vacuum already in hand ready to finish his cleaning routine (he didn’t trust anyone else to do it right). 

“It’s that Eren boy, the one you said who agreed to do the concert, right? Well, look, his instamagram or whatever the kids call it.” Hange pointed to the screen. 

They had indeed pulled up Eren’s instagram, revealing a whopping 200,000 followers. Marco whistled at that. Historia gasped and poked her head around next to Hange’s for a better look. 

“Wow! And wow-ee is he handsome! Good job, Armin.” Historia didn’t turn or look at him, but she did point a thumbs up at his direction. 

Armin blushed, not only at Historia’s comments, but also because of what he saw on the screen. Eren’s instagram was mostly full of, well, Eren. Eren in selfies, Eren holding various instruments, Eren with all kinds of people. The most common post though, was Eren in front of a microphone, wearing a passionate and energetic expression while most likely singing his heart out. 

“So he thinks he’s some kind of famous rock star or something?” Levi seemed unimpressed. 

Hange twirled around to urge him closer to the screen, “He’s the lead singer of this semi-famous band! They even have some albums out, I think. That’s who all of his followers here are-- he’s got a real fan base.” 

“Ohhhhhh,” Everyone responded. 

“Well, alright then. Hopefully he won’t have a huge ego or anything to ruin the fundraiser.” Levi still seemed unimpressed. “Armin, what’s the next step in the plan?” 

“Ah,” Armin had to tear his concentration away from the screen to respond to his boss, “Eren.... is coming back in tomorrow. We're going to work on... some details....” 

No one responded to him. He looked around to find everyone staring at him, Historia and Marco were smirking. Hange poked him in the cheek, “Aaaaarmin, are you blushing??” 

“Wha… oh… I???” Armin lifted the top of his sweater to cover the bottom of his face in hopes to hide. “No.” He quietly responded into his clothing. 

He had a feeling no one believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot begins! 
> 
> Next up on "The Name of Love": Eren is flustered for so many reasons, one of which may be a certain blond. Another blonde, Historia, meets a very attractive drummer ;)


	3. Beautiful Bright Eyes Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, everyone has a little bit of internal gay panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (See end notes for a content warning.) 
> 
> I made a spotify playlist for Armin lol! It's called "The Booklover's Dream (for Armin Kins)" if anyone is interested. It's mostly songs I think that this Armin would listen to. 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zah7SWhhrAxuZjY5uuSEX?si=Nby2UezNQPa9w5tnNnM8Ew

Eren was having a _crisis_. Somehow it was one thing for him to use the library as a patron, for records and music listening sessions. It was an entirely different situation now that he basically came out to a bunch of strangers. Armin had asked him if he knew any local, _queer_ , music artists and for some reason, Eren had barely even paused to respond that yes indeed he did, and that would be him. That he is in fact a _queer_ , specifically, local music artist. He couldn’t fall asleep that night until 4 am, that scene replaying in his head over and over. 

It’s not that he had any problem with people thinking and knowing him as queer, but rather that he really hadn’t been able to figure out what that meant for him. He’d spent most of his adult life so far surrounded by friends in the LGBTQ community, and his own sister of course being asexual. In fact, of his band members, Eren himself was the only one who wasn’t out in some way: Ymir is an out and proud lesbian, Annie is a transwoman who as far as he knows has only dated other women, Reiner is a gay transman, and Jean of course is pansexual and polyam (Mikasa had to have a really long conversation with Eren when he learned that; he was really confused at first). Even Erwin has a pride flag sitting out on his work desk. Thinking about trying to explain his own feelings about sexuality and gender made his heart race to where he could feel his chest expand and deflate rapidly. 

Of course, now he had the additional issue of having the same response when thinking about Armin. 

Armin. With the silky blond hair tempting to run fingers through. Armin. With the brightest smile he could never get enough of. Armin. The person he was on his way to go meet up with right now.

Eren’s boots splashed through a puddle of rainwater leftover from last night’s drizzle before arriving at the front door of the Red Swan Library. He took in a deep breath and opened the door, a soft chime indicating his presence. Usually when he comes in, he sneaks right over to the records, keeping his head down and avoiding looking at anyone. Since meeting Armin, he does the opposite, taking a look around to see if the blond was nearby. 

He was not, but one of the other library workers was. ‘Marco, he/they’, the name tag read when Eren approached the freckled brunet at the desk. 

“Hello, um.” 

“Eren, right? Hi! I’m Marco, it’s great to meet you, err, I guess we’ve already met haven’t we, but it’s great to see you again! Thanks for agreeing to the concert, we’re really excited and appreciative!” Marco grinned at him, hands clasped behind their back. 

“Oh, right,” Eren immediately felt overwhelmed all over again, but didn’t want to show it, “Right! I’m excited, too. It’s for a good cause, you know?” He fiddled with one of the small hoops piercing his upper ear. 

“Exactly. You’ll be looking for Armin, right? He’s in the conference room with Historia, they’re both looking through her artwork to decide what can be used for advertising or displays,” Marco stepped around the front desk towards Eren, “C’mon, I’ll show you.” 

Marco grinned at him again and Eren was tempted to fiddle with another piercing, but refrained, taking a deep breath in through his nose instead as he followed the other brunet into a smaller room. This room had a simpler set up compared to the library itself, with two large, long tables, scattered chairs, and a whiteboard in the front. The tables were covered in various posters, canvas, and papers filled with vibrant artwork, many of which displayed either “Red Swan” themes, books, pride colors, or all of the above. 

“Here we are, hey Armin, hey Historia!” Marco approached their fellow library workers and peered at some of the artwork. 

“Oh!” Armin looked up from a poster, “Hi, Eren, how are you?” 

Eren placed his hands inside his jacket pockets to avoid fidgeting, though nothing could be done about his face heating up at the sight of the blond. “Armin, hi, I’m good how are you?”  
Armin smiled at him, their eyes met across the table, holding contact until Historia poked her head in between them, clearing her throat. “Oh!” Armin responded, seeming startled, “Oh, I’m good. Yes, good.” 

“Good.” Eren can’t help but return a smile. 

“Well, good! Everyone’s good.” Historia bounced on her toes, looking in between the two of them. Eren noted out of the corner of his eye Marco snorting and shifting a paper around. Historia continued “Eren, I’m so glad you’re able to help us out! Bertholdt and I have been watching some of you music videos and live concerts online, you’re SO good!” 

“Oh!” Eren really blushed at that, “Thank you, wow. Well, we’ve worked really hard? And so much of it is how we flow together, it’s obviously not just me.” 

“Well sure, but like, you ARE really good. Your voice could, like, cure cancer!” 

Eren snorted, blushing further when Armin nodded to Historia’s comments, meaning he'd looked the band up, too. Armin’s cheeks seemed a bit red when he spoke up, “What’s your plan for the concert? I mean, assuming that you’re not bringing your whole heavy rock/metal band with you?” 

That made Eren laugh out loud, thinking about their practice that morning and how much Jean and Eren still aren't getting along. “I don’t know about that, and I really don’t think anyone would categorize use as ‘metal.’ But I can jam out pretty easily on acoustic guitar, I could probably have an hour set or so prepared and can take most requests if I can find the sheet music….” 

Just then the front door chimed lightly, making Marco give a quick wave around the room, Historia waving in response and Armin and Eren nodding back as Marco returned to their duties at the front desk. 

Armin pulled out a chair for Eren, the three of them finding seats to settle in for plan-making. Eren outlined the music side of things, what kind of music he could play and what type of equipment or set up he might need. Armin took notes and described the garden/park area out back where they could hold the concert, ready to make further planning details for the space. 

“Can I see some of your artwork, Historia?” Eren inquired after they finalized some of the details of the event itself. 

“Ah, of course! Well, some of this is just doodles I’ve done on slow days at the library. For the actual concert event, I’ll use this design,” She held up a small poster with the Red Swan logo (a rainbow swan with swirling colorful patterns) on a backdrop of colorful bookshelves. “All I needed to know was the date and time of the concert, as well as whatever other details we should include, and then it’ll be a flyer we can make copies of and hang up all around town.” 

“Oh, that’s brilliant, Historia!” Armin nodded to Eren’s words, “I like this drawing a lot.” 

The plan was set, then. The finalized details gave Historia the information she needed to complete the flyers and make copies. Armin and Historia discussed amongst themselves that she could finish that process by tomorrow morning and the two of them would bring them around to coffee shops and bars to hang them up. 

“Oh. Well… I could help with that, too? If you want?” Eren jumped in, reddening again “I’m free until practice that evening.” 

“Eren,” Armin looked surprised, “You’re already doing so much for us, I don’t wanna give you too much work to do!” 

“No, no, please. It’ll be fun! Plus, I might be able to talk to baristas or whatever so they know to spread the word.” 

Armin’s eyes widened and seemed at a loss for words, so Historia responded, “That’ll be wonderful, thank you Eren!”

Armin and Eren then helped Historia organize her scattered artwork. Armin and Historia all the while thanking Eren for his help, and Eren blushing, brushing them off. He was really excited for this concert, as so far, VERY much liked working alongside these library workers (one of the blonds in particular). 

“So,” Armin fiddled with one of the arms of his sweater, a soft light pink one today, where his hand had disappeared just inside it’s length, “Are you going to check out some records today?” 

Eren was distracted by how cute Armin looked in his oversized sweater with sleeves too long for his arms. “Oh…. yes?” He answered before he processed the question. “Or, rather, I mean, I’ll just probably… poke around a bit? See if there’s any music I’ve missed.” 

As he talked, they both walked toward the music section. 

Eren turned to Armin, “What kind of music do you like listening to?” 

“Hmm? Oh, me? Well, ah, I probably don’t know music as well as you do…” 

“That doesn’t matter, I’m just interested in what you like?” Eren felt his face heat up at his own sentence. 

“Oh! Alright.” Armin sifted through some of the records, pulling out one with what seems to be a painted face on the cover. “Well, here’s one I’ve listened to many, uh, many times.” 

As soon as he placed it down and started it, a soft acoustic sound rang out. They both sat down on the nearby cushion chairs to listen in. Eren closed his eyes and let the sound wash over him. It was softer than his usual go-to’s, but enjoyable nevertheless. 

‘ _By the way, I forgive you.  
After all, maybe I should thank you for gi--_’

The lyrics and sound stopped abruptly, causing Eren to open his eyes and look toward the source where he found Armin at the record player again, this time having stopped the music. 

“Ah….” His eyes looked shiny, “Um. Maybe a different one. I don’t think I can… well, let’s listen to a different one.” 

“O-okay,” Eren was a bit confused but willing to follow along, “I liked it so far, but I’ll listen to anything you like.” 

“Yeah, no yeah, it’s really good. It’s just that…'' He placed the record back into its case. “Ah. This song is actually about, like, when people don’t… accept you for who you are.” 

“Oh.” Eren turned sharply to look at Armin more intently. “Well, Armin--” 

“Ah, oh well.” Armin interrupted him. “How about this one?” He pulled out a different album from the same artist and again light acoustic music rang out between them. 

‘ _And beautiful, o beautiful bright eyes, lie_  
Only beautiful, o beautiful bright eyes cry  
Singing late morning lullaby’

Eren smiled at Armin, who returned his own smile, wobblier now though than earlier. Eren wasn’t so dense that he hadn’t noticed, and he suddenly felt a fierce desire to protect Armin course through him. Whoever hadn’t accepted him obviously hurt him, and Eren wanted nothing more than to hold the smaller blond tight in his own arms and never let go, never let anyone cause more pain. Since that wasn’t an option at the moment, he could only dream now of building a closer relationship with the other and maybe learn how he can support him. 

____________________________

Armin was having a _crisis_. Not only was this VERY attractive music-loving lead singer extremely talented, he was also apparently _kind_ and _considerate_ , a lethal combination that had Armin just reeling in daydreams and yearning. The future librarian sighed as he placed his head in one hand, propped up on the front desk. 

“Hmm. That was a big sigh. That Eren kid is coming in again today, yes?” Levi was poking around on something on the computer behind him. 

It was one thing for Armin to be crushing on a boy and fluttering around when he’s near. It was another thing for him to have an actual emotional crisis right in front of him, like yesterday when he accidentally started playing his go-to cry session song. The song he listened to on repeat probably hundreds of times since his parents stopped talking to him. Hange was probably quite sick of that song, since when he moved in with them, he just blasted it basically every night. He wasn’t about to have _that_ kind of a breakdown in front of what he hopes is a new friend. 

“Ah, Armin?” Levi gently reached for his shoulder, having gotten up to stand next to him. “You alright?” 

Armin shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up at his boss, “Yes! I’m sorry, yes, sir, I’m okay.” 

Levi rolled his eyes at “sir”.

“Alright, well you know we’re all going to poke fun at you for blushing like a middle schooler, but it’s all in good fun okay? If you actually want to go around fancying some probably egotistical twit, you are well within your rights to do so.” 

Armin was tempted to defend himself, but instead responded, “Mr. Ackerman, you should probably be careful about how you describe the main event of a fundraiser for your own establishment.” Armin grinned with full teeth up at him. 

Levi simply scowled, trying not to smile, “Always just a little shit, aren’t you,” he shook his head, indicating that he was only kidding, “You keep that up and you’ll make a perfect couple with the rock star.” 

The front door chimed with perfect timing as Armin’s face was surely bright red, proceeding the rock star in question himself entering the library. Today he wore a simple green hoodie and tight black jeans with so many holes they were basically shredded. Armin also noted that Eren was sporting sparkly black fingernail polish today. 

“Eren, welcome back!” 

“Hey.” Eren approached the desk. 

“I like your nail polish.” Armin could feel the big dopey smile on his face. 

Eren wiggled his fingers, “Oh! Thank you, my sister and I were hanging out last night so she did my nails.” 

“Your sister? She’s in the band, right?” Armin blushed realizing that he gave away the fact he had read up all about the band. 

“Yep! She’s the best musician in the group by far. And, bonus, is great at painting finger nails.” 

Levi, still standing next to Armin, smirked and patted Armin on the shoulder once more, “Well, I’ll let you kids get on with your plans. I’ll hold up the fort here until you get back. Thank you, Eren, for volunteering, we’re all excited for the concert.” 

Armin could tell his boss was trying really hard to be perfectly cordial. “C’mon, Eren, Historia should be ready for us by now.” 

The blond led Eren to the conference room once again where Historia was indeed filing stacks of flyers into large binders. She looked up when they entered. “Hey! Ready?” 

Historia led the way out of the library, all three of them holding binders of flyers ready for distribution. Their first stop was going to be a local coffee shop that they all frequented, so it should be an easy first location to deal with. Historia then went on to describe how she also scanned the artwork in on the computer to make an online advertisement on the library’s twitter page. It hadn’t received a lot of attention yet, but she wasn’t discouraged. 

They made it to the first stop within a few minutes’ walk. Historia was right that the process was relatively easy-- the baristas recognized Historia and Armin right away and chatted with them for a few minutes before easily agreeing to hang up a few of the flyers and spread the word. All three of them were offered coffees, on the house, which they all eagerly accepted. 

When one of the baristas, a tall red-haired freckled man, handed Armin his almond-milk latte, the man winked at him and smiled as he held eye contact for slightly longer than socially acceptable for the situation. Armin blushed deeply and stammered a ‘th-thank you very much’ as he took his drink. 

Eren reached for his own drink (a large cappuccino) with a prominent scowl, glaring at the red-haired barista who simply smiled back stating, “Ah sorry! I wasn’t sure if you two were dating, sorry to intrude!” 

“Um. Ah….” Eren was too stunned to respond. 

Historia jumped in to grab her own drink, an iced matcha green tea, and replied, “No worries! Thanks SO much for the drinks!” 

Armin moved with utter mortification at the entire interaction to follow the other two out of the shop. As soon as the door closed behind them, Historia burst into bright laughter. Eren held his drink in front of his face to hide an embarrassed grimace. Armin attempted to hide in his sweater. 

Historia controlled her laughter enough to make them even more embarrassed, “C’mon you love birds, keep up!” 

They continued walking down on the same road for a bit. Armin tried to get his emotions and facial expression under better control all the while. 

“Here, we should try this place next.” Historia pointed with the elbow of her hand holding her drink towards a tattoo shop. “This tattoo parlor is known for being queer-friendly, so hopefully we can find a friendly face to help us.” 

Historia placed her flyer binder under an elbow and reached to open the door. Before she could do so, the door was opened by a tall, frecked, and tattooed woman whose eyes widened when they landed on the small blonde artist.

They stared at each other, both looking stunned for a second before Eren interrupted, “Ymir?” 

Ymir’s head turned before her eyes did, letting her eyes linger on Historia as long as possible until finally facing the lead singer. “Eren. What are you doing here? Who’s this?” 

“Ah. This is Armin, and this is Historia,” Eren indicated the two blonds. “They, uh, work at the library that, well, see….”

“You’re Ymir! The drummer! From Eren’s band!” Historia hadn’t moved her eyes from Ymir. 

“Oh, you know ‘The Prey and the Hunters’?” Ymir looked back to Historia. 

“Yeah! Well, see, our library is in need of a successful fundraiser and Eren volunteered to help throw a little concert to raise money. So we’ve been learning all about his band. You are all very talented! We’re here to drop off some flyers about it.” Historia handed her a flyer. 

“‘The Red Swan’?” Ymir looked back over at Eren, raising an eyebrow. 

Eren flushed bright red and was visibly breathing deeper. He simply nodded and avoided eye contact in response. 

“Hmm. Jaeger, you surprise me every day.” 

Eren’s breathing didn’t seem to be getting any better, worrying Armin. Armin stepped forward then to indicate the flyer, changing the subject, “Historia drew this, isn’t it great?” 

“Oh!” Ymir actually seemed impressed, “This is good stuff. Nice. You an artist?” 

“Ah, yeah,” Historia rubbed the back of her neck with a sheepish smile, “Trying to be.” 

“Well with work like this you don’t need to try, you already are. Hey, you all wanna hang some of these up in here? I know the owner, she’s just inside at the counter. I can introduce you.” 

Historia was too busy staring with stars in her eyes, so Armin responded, “Yes, please, that would be amazing!” 

Ymir brought them inside, apparently she just had got a tattoo of hers touched up, which is why she was there. She introduced them to the owner who happily agreed to both display the flyers and to attend the concert. “My husband and I love that shit, we’ll be there. That library is a pillar of the community, or whatever. Count us in.” 

The four of them returned back to the sidewalk as Historia was answering questions Ymir had about her artwork. 

“Cool. Well, there’s another tattoo place a few blocks over. I know at least one of the artists there, let me introduce you.” She spoke directly to Historia. 

Armin had been trying to catch Historia’s attention the whole time during their interactions with no success. With how much she had poked fun at him for blushing at Eren, he wanted to return payback for how red Historia was turning while talking to Ymir. 

Since he couldn’t have that at this moment, he seized the opportunity to say, “Great idea! Historia, you go partner up with Ymir. Eren and I can handle the rest of this street.” 

Historia whipped her head around to stare at Armin with wide eyes that narrowed when she must have processed his wording. “Fine,” she responded, almost haughtily, “Then you go _partner up_ with Eren. We’ll meet back at the library later.” 

“Fine.” He refused to back down or be embarrassed with his own words thrown back at him. 

Eren and Ymir just shrugged in response and followed their respective “partners”. 

Armin and Eren walked silently for a few minutes after they split ways from the other two and decided to see if the cafe down the street would accept a flyer or two. The silence was comfortable, but Armin wanted to make conversation with Eren, wanted to know him better. 

“So, um, your sister? What’s she like?” Armin scuffed a foot on the sidewalk as he spoke, Eren reached out for a second until Armin caught his footing again. 

“Ah, well, Mikasa. She’s pretty great, I guess. We get along best when we’re doing music or something. We can both be pretty protective of each other, though, which gets us into trouble. I mean. Like, people can be so mean to her sometimes, you know? The sexists and racists are freakin’ everywhere, especially in the music industry. And I don’t have much of a filter sometimes, so…. And people like to give me shit, for whatever reason. She gets protective in her own way. And by that I mean she physically fights people, if they deserve it. Actually, this one time….” 

Eren launched into an almost unbelievable story about Mikasa beating up a group of hyper-masculine wanna-be musicians who got too close to Eren at a local concert while he was on stage. Eren admitted that he wasn’t as physically fit as her, so wouldn’t have been able to fight them off himself. He laughed the whole story off, but it sounded scary to Armin. 

“Anyway. That’s my sister. How about you, Armin? Do you get along with your family?” 

Armin stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn’t help it, he didn’t want to react so strongly to such a simple question, but he found himself quite frozen in place, eyes on his shoes. 

“Ah, shit. Sorry. You don’t have to answer that… I mentioned that I don’t have a filter sometimes? Shit.”

Armin could feet the heat of Eren’s hands where they hovered above his shoulders, not quite sure if they should touch. The blond sucked in a deep breath, spooking Eren for a second. 

“Armin, I’m sorry. Want me to tell you about another time when Annie actually beat someone up? There’s also all kinds of transphobes in the music industry that sometimes just need a good punch in the face.” 

Armin laughed at that, but it came out garbled as he also tried to hold back a sob. “Yeah,” he lifted his eyes to a grinned Eren, “Please tell me about Annie versus the transphobes.” 

Eren obliged as they continued a slow stroll towards their destination, this time in close step with their shoulders bumping together every few feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Content warning: Implied homophobic parents and abandonment) 
> 
> The songs featured in this chapter are by Brandi Carlile, "Every Time I Hear That Song" and "Late Morning Lullaby", which is where the chapter title came from.
> 
> :')


	4. Somebody to Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir pays close attention to Eren's acoustic performance at the fundraiser. 
> 
> Just kidding, she's thinking about Historia, obviously.

Eren’s passionate voice reverberated over the small garden space alongside the strumming of his acoustic guitar. Ymir resisted rolling her eyes at the sight of him in front of this small crowd of apparent book-lovers. Not because there was anything wrong or weird about his music; in fact, she wouldn’t actually be too hard pressed to admit that he was in fact _very_ talented. It was just that this was _Eren_. As talented as he was at music, and admittedly at working a crowd, Ymir knew that he was of course very much a scatterbrained and reckless person at heart. 

He had really surprised her that day she ran into him helping with flyers. While she had a good idea now of why he was helping the library out so much (one of two very cute blonds comes to mind), his actions seemed so out of character as to be unbelievable. When had he ever pursued someone in a romantic capacity? Or expressed interest in anyone in that way? 

It was also strange that he hadn’t spoken about it at any of their band practices. Eren was the type of person to go all in with anything he agrees to and never shut up about it. Ymir had tried to nudge him into a conversation about it at practice a few days before, but he shut her down immediately, looking extremely embarrassed and worried. Mikasa had noticed, which made Eren more placating, which made Jean poke fun at him, making Eren just straight up angry. It turned into another fight that ended practice early. Erwin was not happy. 

She could understand wanting to keep some things private, so she didn’t say anything. Even when she caught Eren daydreaming in his own world more often than not. 

Eren finished the last strum of a song and addressed the clapping crowd, “Thank you everyone! Be sure to donate and tour the library. Up next, I’ll start taking some requests for songs. Thanks again!” 

Just then the door of the library opened, Ymir whipping her head around to see who exited. Sure enough, it was the one person she had been waiting for all night. Historia. 

Historia with the beautiful shiny hair and perfect smile. Historia with the laugh that can melt glaciers and eyes that sparkle like the sun. Historia…. 

Ymir and Historia had spent that whole day together. Even after the entire pile of flyers was delivered, they walked around town together, sharing stories and heavy glances that meant more and more the more time they spent together. At the end of the day, Ymir was almost late to band practice (she has _never_ been late) after losing track of time. Historia’s voice and smile had stayed with her ever since that first day, and she’d barely been able to wait to hear and see the blonde again. 

“Historia.” Ymir spoke at the same time as Eren began to play a Hozier song, but she barely noticed. 

“Ah, Ymir! Hi! How are you? Enjoying the concert? Eren is really good, isn’t he? I mean, I guess you already knew that, since he’s in your band. And! Of course he’s good, he’s in a band. Anyway. Oh, how are you?” 

Ymir smirked at the shorter blonde, “Good, I’m good. How are you, how’s business?” 

“Good! I mean, I have no idea how business is, really, we’re getting a lot of tours, and plenty of people are interested in the library, but I’m not sure if it’s enough donations to cover what we need.” 

“Ah, gotcha. Anyone going in for a tour now?” 

“Nah, everyone in the last group wanted to come back out here to hear the requested songs. Someone really wanted to have Eren sing ‘Queen’.” 

“Well then, are you available? To give a tour?” Ymir resisted running her eyes up and down Historia. 

“Y-yes? Oh, like would you l-like a tour?” 

“Yes, please. Only if it’s you escorting me.” 

“E-escort…. Yes! Okay! Um, sure. Let’s go inside, follow me please.” Historia was bright red. 

She turned to lead them inside, but tripped on the small step up. Ymir promptly caught her at her arm to avoid any falls onto concrete. 

“Careful.” 

“O-oh! I’m sor-- I mean, thank you! Wow.” Historia was able to upright herself with Ymir’s help. “Thank you. Wow, your... your hands?” 

“Hmm?” 

“I mean,” Historia held one of Ymir’s hands in her own and turned it over to examine the palm. She ran her fingers over the thick calluses near the top of Ymir’s palm. “Oh! Drumsticks, right?” Historia turned her gaze up to Ymir. 

“Hmm?” Ymir inquired again before the question registered, “Oh, yes. That and rock climbing.” 

Historia froze, squeezing Ymir’s hand in between her own. “Oh. Oh wow.” She stared for a few seconds longer before dropping Ymir’s hand quickly, moving her own to rub her neck. “Anyway! Wow. That’s wow. Er, that’s awesome, Ymir. You’re awesome.” 

Ymir then felt her own face heat up, her hand burned where Historia had touched. 

They were both able to get a hold of themselves well enough to commence the library tour. Historia talked Ymir through the history of the library, what the different sections of book and comics were, where the music section was, as well as some ancient-looking magazines. They settled in the back of the library where Historia was showing off her favorite books, currently on display in a “comfort books” theme. 

Historia tried to grab one that was just out of reach and was about to look for a stool when Ymir simply reached up over her head for the book, reaching around Historia to place it in her hands. “Here you are.” Ymir left her arm around Historia while they pursued the book together. 

Historia described the book in halting, flustered sentences, trying but failing to stop her hair from falling in her face. “Historia.” Ymir reached with her other hand to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind Historia’s ear. 

“A-anyway. That’s that book. It’s… one of my favorites. I like how… beautiful… it is.” Historia was looking directly at Ymir. 

“Sounds… lovely. Very lovely.” Ymir stared straight back.  
“Doyouwannagoouttodinnerwithme.” Historia blurted without losing eye contact.

Out of shock more than incomprehension, Ymir responded with another “Hmm?” 

“Uh. Dinner? With me? Sometime? Um. Do you wanna go out to dinner with me?” Historia’s eyes were as wide as Ymir’s. 

“Oh! Oh, yes, very much so. I’d love to.” Ymir clasped her hands over Historia’s still holding the book. “I would absolutely love to go out to dinner with you, Historia.” 

_________________________________

The sound of clapping and cheering jostled Armin out of his daydream. Eren was waving and thanking the now much smaller crowd who had stayed until his last song of the night. Armin immediately felt guilty for not attending to his library duties with his usual attentiveness, but that was soon replaced with a sudden jolt in his chest when he realized that Eren, being done for the night, was making his way directly to him. 

“Hey.” Eren strapped his now-encased guitar around his back. 

“H-hi, Eren. Wow. You are… really good.” 

Eren fiddled with his guitar strap and looked surprisingly sheepish. “Thanks, Armin. So, you liked the concert?”

“Oh, yes. Very much. I think you’ve chosen exactly the right career choice for yourself.” 

Eren laughed, his whole torso shaking with the movement. Armin smiled back, pleased. “Well, good. I’m glad you enjoyed it.” 

Suddenly Armin realized how close Eren’s face was to his. He was close enough to spot golden-brown specks in amongst the green of his eyes with how they shimmered in the garden string lights. He was close enough that he could feel a puff of Eren’s breath, still heavy from performing. Armin’s own intake in breath gathered a hint of Eren’s cologne with a mix of Eren himself. Armin was so focused on Eren he barely noticed his heart beating out of control. 

“Armin.” Eren’s full focus was on him, “You… look so nice tonight. I like the blue of your… sweater.” 

Armin didn’t get to form the words ‘thank you’ before a terse voice startled both of them, “Hey. Both of you. Meeting now, inside.” 

Levi ducked back inside the library for them to follow. Eren looked back at Armin, letting out a sigh. “Shall we?” 

Armin followed both of them inside, noting that somehow the entire crowd had left without him noticing. 

“First of all, thank you, Eren, for all of your help. Your music was a big hit.” Levi addressed Eren directly when they settled in the conference room where his fellow coworkers were already waiting. Hange stood before a laptop and a stack of papers. Bertholdt and Marco were sitting next to them. Historia and Ymir were standing to the side, holding hands. Since Levi or Hange didn’t question Ymir’s odd presence at the meeting, he didn’t either. Clearly something happened that he missed there. 

Levi continued, addressing the group, “Thank you everyone as always for your hard work. It’s always noticed and appreciated. I’m not keeping you all here for a long meeting, just enough to recognize all that you do.” 

Hange cleared their throat, looking downcast at the papers in front of them. 

Levi paused, crossing his arms, “Ah. Well, we also want to say that we did crunch some numbers for tonight. The crowd, donations, and new memberships were exactly, if not more, than what we had anticipated. Unfortunately, at this time, it won’t be enough to say we’re out of the red yet. I did mention that for us to stay open indefinitely it would probably take a miracle.” Armin noted that Ymir glanced up at Eren, Eren himself paying attention to Levi. “But, I don’t want to take away from the good work we did today so I’ll leave it at that for now. Hange and I will clean up from the event, so you kids can go and head home for the night.” 

They all said their goodnights, everyone thanking Eren again for his performance. Armin tried to catch Historia’s eye for any clarity as to what led to hand-holding with the drummer, but had no luck as she was busy smiling at said drummer. 

Eren and Armin walked out together, both stealing glances and smirks. “Hey…” Eren started. 

A loud chime went off from Armin’s pocket, making him jump. “Ah, sorry.” He pulled out his phone with the intention of just making sure it wasn’t anything too important and then putting it away. Eren nodded with the silent agreement to wait patiently. 

But when Armin checked the message, his eyes went wide at the first line of the message and the sender, someone who he had not heard from in a very long time. 

“New Message From--Dad: ‘Hi Armin, we just wanted to check in with our little boy....’” 

The rest of the message cut off on his phone’s home screen, but what he could read was enough to make his hands shake and eyes water.  
“Armin?” Eren had approached him, cautiously. 

Armin gasped in a breath, shut off the phone screen, and shoved it into his pocket. “Hey. Sorry about that.” 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah. No worries.” 

Eren looked very worried, thumbing at his guitar strap vigorously. “Sure. Hey, you know, I’m here, right? Like I’m here, for you?” 

He sounded so unsure of his own words, but Armin had a feeling the meaning behind them was sincere. Armin smiled at Eren, wobbly, but also sincere, “Yeah. Thank you, Eren.” 

_________________________________

“You made it sound like this isn’t some sort of emergency, Levi.” Hange rubbed their face, Levi noted that their glasses were rubbed up into their hair. “As if we’ll just figure this out somehow.” 

Levi frowned deeper, a pen twirling in his hand. It was true that the fundraiser concert was technically a success. It was also true that that success wasn’t nearly enough to tide them over likely longer than two more months, max. “It’s not like I’m about to tell them all it doesn’t matter how hard they work, that it’ll be all over soon anyway.” He knew he wasn’t about to cry or anything stupid right then, but he did lean his head back when his eyes watered. 

It’s not like he put not only his entire heart and soul into this library, but also his entire life savings…. 

A place for queer people of all ages to safely exist and enjoy media that represents them, something he never had growing up. It was all he ever wanted. Now he had been staring at red numbers after red numbers telling him it was all over. 

And as much as he wanted to believe in miracles, he knew it would soon be time to face reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> Next up on "The Name of Love": Eren's band finds out about his extracurriculars. Jean finds this very interesting.


End file.
